Child-resistant closure for a container and method of making same

ABSTRACT

A child-resistant container may include a container body having a central longitudinal axis, a closed base, and an open top; and a cap assembly configured to couple to the container body for closing the container. The cap assembly may include an inner cap having an inner cap sidewall with an annular groove formed between an inner cap top surface and an inner cap open bottom and an outer cap covering the inner cap and having an outer cap sidewall having with annular ridge formed between an outer cap top surface and an outer cap open bottom. The inner cap may be configured to couple to the container body and seal the container body via the open top. The outer cap may be configured to couple to the inner cap with the annular ridge nested within the annular groove.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application claims the benefit of priority to U.S.Provisional Pat. Application No. 63/279,471, filed on Nov. 15, 2021, theentirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Various aspects of the disclosure relate generally to child-resistantclosures for containers. According to examples, the disclosure relatesto systems, devices, and related methods for the manufacture, assembly,and use of child-resistant container closures.

BACKGROUND

Products such as medicines, poisons, and adult recreational substancesmay be dangerous if ingested or handled by children. These products maybe sold or distributed in containers that are child-resistant, meaningthat they require particular steps to be followed in sequence orsimultaneously in order for the product to be accessed. Such containersmay require multiple parts to be molded from plastic and assembled, andtheir child resistance may rely on material properties such as thereliable deformation of the plastics used. However, plastic containersmay pose issues of cost, manufacturability, durability, and may not besuitable for certain products due to chemical interactions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and constitutea part of this specification, illustrate exemplary aspects of thedisclosure and, together with the description, explain the principles ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a container assembly, according to aspectsof this disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an inner cap portion of a cap assembly,according to aspects of this disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an outer cap portion of the cap assembly,according to aspects of this disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the cap assembly, according toaspects of this disclosure; and

FIG. 5 is an illustration of the forces applied to open the containerassembly, according to aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of an exemplary method of applying a capassembly to a container assembly, according to aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of a method of forming an inner cap portion ofa cap assembly, according to aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of a method of forming an outer cap portion ofa cap assembly, according to aspects of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of this disclosure relate to child-resistant container closuresand methods for the manufacture, assembly, and use of child-resistantcontainer closures.

The terminology used below may be interpreted in its broadest reasonablemanner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detaileddescription of certain specific examples of the present disclosure.Indeed, certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, anyterminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner will beovertly and specifically defined as such in this Detailed Descriptionsection. Both the foregoing general description and the followingdetailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are notrestrictive of the features, as claimed.

In this disclosure, the term “based on” means “based at least in parton.” The singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referentsunless the context dictates otherwise. The term “exemplary” is used inthe sense of “example” rather than “ideal.” The terms “comprises,”“comprising,” “includes,” “including,” or other variations thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion such that a process, method,or product that comprises a list of elements does not necessarilyinclude only those elements, but may include other elements notexpressly listed or inherent to such a process, method, article, orapparatus. Relative terms, such as, “substantially” and “generally,” areused to indicate a possible variation of ±10% of a stated or understoodvalue.

Portable, child-resistant containers may be useful for storing productssuch as medicines, poisons, and adult recreational substances that maybe dangerous if ingested or handled by children. While somechild-resistant containers have been used for pills and householdcleaners in the past, such containers may require multiple parts to bemolded from plastic separately and then later assembled. Further, thechild resistance of such plastic containers may rely on materialproperties such as the reliable deformation of the plastics used.Replacing these plastics with metals such as aluminum can have theadvantage of being easier to manufacture and recycle, and may provideresistance to certain substances that may cause plastics to leech ordegrade. The disclosed child-resistant container closures may provideimprovements in manufacturability, durability, product quality, and maybe more easily recycled.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary child-resistant container assembly 100 inaccordance with the present disclosure. Child-resistant containerassembly 100 can include container body 110 and cap assembly 120.Container body 110 may be of many forms, sizes, and shapes, including,for example, a beverage bottle capable of holding approximately 2-24ounces of liquid. In some embodiments, container body 110 may be formedfrom, for example, glass, metal, or plastic. In embodiments, wherecontainer body 110 is formed of metal, any suitable metal may be used,including, but not limited to, aluminum. Container body 110 may includea closed container base 112 at the bottom of container body 110 and acontainer opening 114 at the top. In some embodiments, container opening114 may be an externally threaded neck configured to receive a cap andbe sealed. A central longitudinal axis 116 can be defined by thecontainer body 110 and particularly container opening 114. Centrallongitudinal axis 116 may be normal to the plane defined by containeropening 114, and may extend through the center of container opening 114into container body 110 as well as outward through cap assembly 120.Container body 110 and cap assembly 120 may be coaxial about thiscentral longitudinal axis 116.

Cap assembly 120 may be formed in two parts: an inner cap 130 nestedinside of and coaxial with an outer cap 140. FIG. 2 illustrates anembodiment of inner cap 130. Inner cap 130 can include an inner cap topsurface 132 having one or more protrusions 133 at an upper portionthereof, an inner cap opening 134 at a lower portion thereof, and aninner cap sidewall 136 positioned between the upper and lower portions.Inner cap sidewall 136 can include internal threading to allow inner cap130 to be secured to complementary threading on container opening 114 ofcontainer body 110. Inner cap sidewall 136 can also define inner capopening 134, and may be formed with an annular groove 138 extendingcircumferentially around inner cap 130 between inner cap top surface 132and inner cap opening 134. In some embodiments, annular groove 138 canbe a plurality of smaller indents spaced about the circumference ofinner cap 130.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of outer cap 140. Outer cap 140 caninclude an outer cap top surface 142 having one or more engagementelements 143 that correspond in shape and position with protrusions 133on the inner cap top surface 132. Outer cap 140 can also include anouter cap opening 144 at a lower portion thereof, opposite outer cap topsurface 142, being defined by an outer cap sidewall 146. Outer capsidewall 146 may include a plurality of gripping features 147 at leastpartially surrounding a portion of outer cap sidewall 146. In someembodiments, gripping features can be one or more vertical ridges, bars,indentations, protrusions, or combinations thereof. Outer cap sidewall146 can also include an annular ridge 148 extending inward (i.e.,towards the central longitudinal axis 116) partially orcircumferentially around outer cap 140.

FIG. 4 illustrates cap assembly 120 wherein outer cap 140 is placed ontop of inner cap 130 such that both inner cap sidewall 136 and outer capsidewall 146 as well as inner cap top surface 132 and outer cap topsurface 142 are parallel to and proximate one another. When inner cap130 and outer cap 140 are assembled to form cap assembly 120, outer cap140 may be retained in position covering inner cap 130 by thecooperation between annular groove 138 and annular ridge 148, whilestill being capable or rotating freely with respect to inner cap 130.Efforts to pull outer cap 140 away from inner cap 130 would result in asmall amount of movement of outer cap 140 (e.g., an amount slightlylarger than the height of protrusions 133) prior to annular ridge 148coming into contact with annular groove 138 and/or a portion of innercap sidewall 136 proximate annular groove 138. The small amount of playbetween inner cap 130 and outer cap 140 can provide sufficient space forouter cap top surface 142 to rotate freely without necessarily engagingprotrusions 133.

Further, outer cap 140 completely covers inner cap 130, such that innercap 130 cannot be directly gripped or manipulated. While it is possiblefor outer cap 140 to rotate independently of inner cap 130, theinterference between outer cap 140 and inner cap 130 due to annularridge 148 and annular groove 138 prevents a user from simply removingouter cap 140 and unscrewing inner cap 130 directly. Therefore, sinceouter cap 140 both fully covers inner cap 130, and is not easily removedfrom inner cap 130 due to the annular ridge-and-groove arrangement, auser must rotate both outer cap 140 and inner cap 130 together in orderto access the contents of container body 110.

However, as a result of the annular ridge-and-groove retentionarrangement, and the small amount of space between the top surfaces ofinner cap 130 and outer cap 140, inner cap 130 does not necessarilyrotate with outer cap 140. FIG. 5 illustrates the manner in which outercap 140 and inner cap 130 may be made to rotate together, thus allowingaccess to the contents of container body 110. Specifically, in order torotate inner cap 130 along with outer cap 140, engagement elements 143can engage corresponding protrusions 133 to allow applied rotation 510to be transmitted through outer cap 140 to inner cap 130. In someembodiments, protrusions 133 and engagement elements 143 may have across sectional geometry (as shown in FIG. 4 ) that includes twoopposing sloped walls that can be joined by a rounded or substantiallyflat top portion, and may be arranged about longitudinal axis 116 in,for example, a cross arrangement. In order to keep engagement elements143 and corresponding protrusions 133 engaged, an applied force 520 maybe applied along longitudinal axis 116 to maintain the engagement whileapplied rotation 510 rotates outer cap 140 and inner cap 130 to unscrewcap assembly 120 from container opening 114.

The amount of applied force necessary to maintain the engagement betweenouter cap 140 and inner cap 130 depends on a number of factors, forexample, the shape of engagement elements 143 and correspondingprotrusions 133. For example, if protrusions 133 and engagement elements143 interact with one another in a plane that has a slope thatapproaches being parallel to central longitudinal axis 116, very littleof the applied rotation 510 would need to be countered by applied force520 in order to keep outer cap 140 and inner cap 130 engaged, andtherefore they will remain engaged with a relatively small applied force520. On the other hand, if protrusions 133 and engagement elements 143interact with one another in a plane with a slope that approaches beingperpendicular to central longitudinal axis 116, much more of the appliedrotation 510 would need to be countered by applied force 520 in order tokeep outer cap 140 and inner cap 130 engaged, and a relatively largerapplied force 520 will be needed to maintain the engagement withoutslipping. Similarly, features such as rounded edges and protrusions thatextend less far above the inner cap top surface 132 may also increasethe applied force 520 needed to prevent slipping. In this way, someprotrusion designs may be more child-proof than other designs, as theparticular application requires.

Providing cap assembly to close or provide a seal to container body 110can be accomplished by different methods. For example, inner cap 130 maybe formed by roll forming the cap directly on the container. Inner cap130 may be placed in position on top of container opening 114, and amachine can roll around inner cap 130 and create a thread, annulargroove 138, and seal around the bottle. Once inner cap 130 is coupled tocontainer body 110, outer cap 140 can be punched onto the bottle overthe top of inner cap 130, and annual ridge 148 can be formed tocooperate with annular groove 138 to secure outer cap 140 to inner cap130. In some embodiments, to provide a sealing engagement between theupper edge of container opening 114 and the inner surface of inner cap130, a gasket (e.g., a silicone gasket) may be secured to an undersideof inner cap top surface 132.

According to an embodiment of this disclosure, child-resistant closuresare disclosed for containers such as bottles. Although this disclosuredescribes child-resistant closures for bottles, the disclosure is notlimited to such use. Aspects of the disclosure may also be used forother containers and for containers that need to be resistant to animalsor other beings with limited capabilities to perform the simultaneousand/or sequential steps to access the inside of a container.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations may be made in the disclosed devices andmethods without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Otheraspects of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the artfrom consideration of the specification and practice of the featuresdisclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples beconsidered as exemplary only, with a true scope of the disclosure beingindicated by the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A child-resistant container, comprising: a container body having acentral longitudinal axis, a closed base, and an open top; and a capassembly configured to couple to the container body for closing thecontainer, the cap assembly including: an inner cap having an inner captop surface, an inner cap open bottom, and an inner cap sidewall, theinner cap sidewall having an annular groove formed between the inner captop surface and the inner cap open bottom; an outer cap covering theinner cap and having an outer cap top surface, an outer cap open bottom,and an outer cap sidewall, the outer cap sidewall having an annularridge formed between the outer cap top surface and the outer cap openbottom; wherein each of the inner cap top surface and the outer cap topsurface include engagement features such that the inner cap and theouter cap can be selectively engaged for coaxial rotation about thecentral longitudinal axis; wherein the inner cap is configured to coupleto the container body and seal the container body via the open top; andwherein the outer cap is configured to couple to the inner cap with theannular ridge nested within the annular groove.
 2. The child-resistantcontainer of claim 1, wherein the engagement features include one ormore protrusions from the inner cap top surface and one or morecorresponding engagement elements of the outer cap top surface.
 3. Thechild-resistant container of claim 2, wherein the one or moreprotrusions from the inner cap top surface each include a sloped surfacesuch that continued engagement of the outer cap and the inner cap duringrotation requires an applied force pressing the outer cap towards theinner cap along the central longitudinal axis.
 4. The child-resistantcontainer of claim 1, wherein the outer cap is prevented from beingremoved from a position covering the inner cap by interference betweenthe annular ridge and the annular groove.
 5. The child-resistantcontainer of claim 1, wherein the annular groove and the annular ridgeextend circumferentially around the inner cap and the outer caprespectively.
 6. The child-resistant container of claim 5, wherein theannular ridge protrudes inwardly from the outer cap sidewall toward theannular groove.
 7. The child-resistant container of claim 4, wherein aclearance exists between the annular ridge and the annular groovesufficient to allow the outer cap to rotate freely about the centrallongitudinal axis.
 8. The child-resistant container of claim 7, whereinthe outer cap sidewall covers the inner cap sidewall completely whilethe annular ridge is nested within the annular groove.
 9. Thechild-resistant container of claim 2, wherein the protrusions from theinner cap top surface and the engagement elements of the outer cap topsurface are each positioned in a cross arrangement about the centrallongitudinal axis.
 10. A cap assembly for a child-resistant container,comprising: an inner cap having an inner cap top surface, an inner capopen bottom, and an inner cap sidewall, the inner cap sidewall having anannular groove formed between the inner cap top surface and the innercap open bottom; an outer cap covering the inner cap and having an outercap top surface, an outer cap open bottom, and an outer cap sidewall,the outer cap sidewall having an annular ridge formed between the outercap top surface and the outer cap open bottom; wherein each of the innercap top surface and the outer cap top surface include engagementfeatures such that the inner cap and the outer cap can be selectivelyengaged for coaxial rotation about a central longitudinal axis; whereinthe inner cap is configured to couple to a container body and seal thecontainer body via an open top; and wherein the outer cap is configuredto couple to the inner cap with the annular ridge nested within theannular groove.
 11. The cap assembly for a child-resistant container ofclaim 10, wherein the engagement features include one or moreprotrusions from the inner cap top surface and one or more correspondingengagement elements of the outer cap top surface.
 12. The cap assemblyfor a child-resistant container of claim 11, wherein the one or moreprotrusions from the inner cap top surface each include a sloped surfacesuch that continued engagement of the outer cap and the inner cap duringrotation requires an applied force pressing the outer cap towards theinner cap along the central longitudinal axis.
 13. The cap assembly fora child-resistant container of claim 10, wherein the outer cap isprevented from being removed from a position covering the inner cap byinterference between the annular ridge and the annular groove.
 14. Thecap assembly for a child-resistant container of claim 10, wherein theannular groove and the annular ridge extend circumferentially around theinner cap and the outer cap respectively.
 15. The cap assembly for achild-resistant container of claim 14, wherein the annular ridgeprotrudes inwardly from the outer cap sidewall toward the annulargroove.
 16. The cap assembly for a child-resistant container of claim13, wherein a clearance exists between the annular ridge and the annulargroove sufficient to allow the outer cap to rotate freely about thecentral longitudinal axis.
 17. The cap assembly for a child-resistantcontainer of claim 16, wherein the outer cap sidewall covers the innercap sidewall completely while the annular ridge is nested within theannular groove.
 18. The cap assembly for a child-resistant container ofclaim 11, wherein the protrusions from the inner cap top surface and theengagement elements of the outer cap top surface are each positioned ina cross arrangement about the central longitudinal axis.
 19. A capassembly for a child-resistant container, comprising: an inner capconfigured to couple to a container body and having an inner cap topsurface, an inner cap open bottom, and an inner cap sidewall, whereinthe inner cap sidewall includes an annular groove formed between theinner cap top surface and the inner cap open bottom, and wherein theinner cap top surface includes a plurality of protrusions extendingtherefrom; an outer cap covering the inner cap and having an outer captop surface, an outer cap open bottom, and an outer cap sidewall,wherein the outer cap sidewall includes an annular ridge formed betweenthe outer cap top surface and the outer cap open bottom, and wherein theouter cap top surface includes a plurality of engagement elementsconfigured to receive the plurality of protrusions; wherein the outercap is coupled to and covers the inner cap with the annular ridge nestedwithin the annular groove; and wherein the outer cap is configured to beselectively engaged with the inner cap such that when engaged the outercap and inner cap are collectively rotatable about a centrallongitudinal axis and when disengaged the outer cap is independentlyrotatable about the central longitudinal axis.
 20. The cap assembly fora child-resistant container of claim 19, wherein the plurality ofprotrusions each include a sloped surface such that engagement of theouter cap and the inner cap during rotation requires an applied forcepressing the outer cap towards the inner cap along the centrallongitudinal axis; and wherein a clearance exists between the annularridge and the annular groove sufficient to allow the outer cap to rotatefreely about the central longitudinal axis absent the applied force.